Dhaka: Thanks to dashing opener Tamim Iqbal’s unbeaten half century of 62 runs that helped Chittagong Vikings secure a dazzling nine-wicket victory against Rangpur Riders in the 4th Bangladesh Premier League T20 at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Sunday. 

With this win, Ctg advanced into the 3rd slot of the points table, by virtue of more run rate, pushing down Rangpur into the 4th. 

Ctg collected 10 points from nine outings having five wins and four loses. Rangpur remained in their previous collection of 10 points, but from eight games having five wins and three loses. 

Chasing a target of 125, Ctg reached their destination scoring 128 for 1 in 16 overs. 

Tamim fired two successive boundaries in the innings last two balls off Liam Dawson to draw the winning line. 

West Indian all-rounder Chris Gayle scored 40 on his first appearance in this edition BPL for Ctg, stayed with skipper Tamim in the opening pair for a partnership figure of 70 in 9 overs.

Gayle faced 26 balls to fire two boundaries and four over boundaries, before being caught by Anwar Ali off Shahid Afridi’s bowling. 

Tamim continued with Anamul Haque till the end in the 2nd wicket for an unbeaten 58 in 7 overs. 

Man of the match ‘Tamim’ played 48 balls to hammer nine boundaries and one six while Anamul Haque added run-a-ball 22, including one over boundary. 

Shahid Afridi delivered two overs to take one wicket for 25 runs.  

Batting first after winning the toss, Rangpur scored 124 for 6 in 20 overs.  

Soumya Sarkar scored 26 off 21 balls, including two boundaries and one six, while Mohammad Shahzad (21), Anwar Ali (not out 20), Liam Dawson (14), Shahid Afridi (13) and Mohammad Mithun (12) were the other double figure scorer for Rangpur. 

Delivering four overs each, Taskin Ahmed and Mohammad Nabi captured two wickets each for 25 and 31 runs respectively while Shubhashis Roy took another wicket for 17 runs. 

Starting their tournament campaign with a 29-run win against defending champion Comilla Victorians, Ctg conceded four successive loses in the seven-team meet, then got back their form for four successive victories.